POPMENU INDUSTRY REPORT

The Restaurant’s Guide to
Email Marketing

Consistently communicating with guests is key to repeat business. One easy way to do that? Email marketing.

With all the flashy marketing channels available (i.e., TikTok, Instagram, etc.) email might seem a little too simple — but sometimes the best dishes are made with the simplest ingredients, right? In fact, email marketing remains one of the top ways to connect with and market to consumers … and just like crafting the perfect dish, there is an art to it.

Whether your goals are to attract new guests, grow sales, cultivate more guest loyalty, or just share what’s new on your menu, we’ve got all the email tips you need to entice guests through the front door.

The Opportunity

First things first, email works… and guests are hungry for it!

Sending emails to guests is one of the fastest, easiest, and most effective ways to grow revenue. Yet, 1 in 3 restaurants never send them.

1 in 3restaurants never send marketing emails to their guests.

And that’s a missed opportunity — because guests are asking to hear from you:

of guests said they are likely to join a mailing list to receive email/text offers from restaurants they like

said they want to hear from their favorite restaurants at least once a week

Proof It Works

The proof is in the… pizza

In 18 months, GIOIA sent 49 emails (39 sent automatically) to one guest, resulting in 101 orders and $5,700+ in revenue.

emails sent over 18 months (39 automatically)

orders from that one guest

in revenue from a single guest

With the help of email, GIOIA earned $897,000 in commission-free online ordering revenue in 2022.

Getting started

Capture the most important ingredient…

The number one thing you need to build a successful email campaign is, well, a guest’s email.

Now, you can automatically capture (and store) email addresses andother contact info from guests straight from your website.

There are a number of ways you can easily capture critical info:

01
Write a Review, Win $500!Help guests by leaving a review of your favorite dishes. Be entered in a drawing to win $500 on 7/1
How was your visit?Write a Review

Encourage guests to submit a review for a chance to win $500. When they leave a review, they leave their email too!

02
Apple Valley Turkey$11.99 · Toasted Whole Wheat24 Reviews
Grinder$10.99 · Buono’s Bakery Sub Roll

Similar to reviews, capture guest info when they like an individual dish or place an online order.

03
Become a VIPBe the first to receive updates on exclusive events, secret menus, special offers/discounts, loyalty rewards & more!Email AddressJoin For Freeor join withFacebookGoogle

Exclusivity goes a long way… entice guests into becoming a VIP follower to receive special offers, secret menus, and more.

PopTip:Capturing guest order history and preferences on top of email not only enables you to stay in contact with emails, announcements and promotions, it also allows you to get more personalized with what you’re sending. Shameless plug: Popmenu does this automatically and makes it easy!

Plan your communications

Putting it into action

Once you have a guest’s email, how often should you reach out? For email marketing the rule of thumb is sending 2-4 emails per month, depending on the quality and relevance of content you’re sharing.

What do we mean by relevant, quality content? Offers, new menu changes, upcoming events, live music schedules, and anything else you think guests will love!

PopTip:The number one reason why people unsubscribe from emails is due to receiving too many from one sender too often.

Creating an email content calendar

Planning a content calendar might sound a bit daunting but it’s actually pretty simple. Start by looking at a calendar. Then, drop in key dates and recurring theme nights (like wine dinners, half-priced appetizer night, etc.), offers you’re running, and any operational changes you might have coming up (like holiday hours). Once it’s planned out, you can layer your communications on top.

Plan your content with Artificial Intelligence

As the use of artificial intelligence (AI) continues to grow across industries, so do automation capabilities. In fact, AI can actually help you build and plan marketing content — saving time and helping to hit revenue goals without increasing manual efforts.

Product peek: Popmenu’s new AI marketing product automatically plans your content calendar, suggesting and creating emails, texts, and social media posts based on guest behavior, new reviews, upcoming events, new menu items, etc. — all that’s left to do is edit (if you want) and approve.

Create quality content

Time for the creative

Being creative in the kitchen is tough enough, so when it comes to being creative with marketing… Imagine you’re standing at a table — what would you highlight for your dining guests? Guests want to hear information that serves them in some way.

What do guests want to see in restaurant emails?

  • New and exciting offerings
  • Special events
  • Unique menus or menu items
  • Holiday specials
  • Discounts/promos
  • Updates to operations

The anatomy of a quality email.

  1. 1 Eye-catching header
  2. 2 Appetizing image
  3. 3 Hook
  4. 4 Body text
  5. 5 Body CTA
  6. 6 Button

Pro Tip! Include offers whenever possible

Libby’s Neighborhood Brasserie identified Monday and Tuesday as slow ordering days, so they instituted a 35% off discount deal for Monday and Tuesday for the summer.

in revenue in just one month — and Monday and Tuesday are now their busiest ordering days.

Automate whenever and wherever you can

Make marketing smarter

How do you know what to send? Or when to send it? How do we catch a guest’s attention at the right time? Well… automation helps.

Think about what happens after you make a purchase online — a “thank you” email lands in your inbox, right? Then two days later, you get another one gently encouraging you toward another purchase. These are automatically triggered based on your behavior. The same can work for restaurants!

Automate Emails

Your automated email marketing tools use info like new VIP signups, dish likes, and past online orders to send personalized emails automatically — so every new VIP follower gets a proper greeting, every order is followed by a reminder to leave a review, loyal guests earn rewards, and a previous guest receives a special offer inviting them back.

Ocean State Sandwich company uses automated emails to welcome new VIP followers, celebrate birthdays, encourage new reviews, and inform guests of restaurant happenings.

netted in online ordering from their marketing efforts

of that driven by automated emails

That’s $17,000 in revenue without lifting a finger.

Track what’s working

Measure success

While the term “data” may seem as dry as an overcooked Thanksgiving turkey, it’s actually the secret ingredient that adds flavor to your marketing efforts. It holds the answer to the burning question: “Is what I’m doing actually working?”

When we look at data holistically, we can better track how every touchpoint and guest interaction translates to orders placed and revenue earned. When we can answer questions like these, we can replicate what’s working and iterate on what isn’t.

Email marketing metrics.

Taking a closer look at email marketing, there are three standard benchmarks you can track:

Open ratehow many people opened the email.
Click-through ratehow many people clicked on the email and took the desired action (e.g., placed an order, made a reservation, etc.).
Unsubscribe ratehow many people opted out of receiving future communication from you.

Questions to ask your data:

First, ask: Do I know how much of my revenue can be attributed to marketing?

Then: If not, what tools do you need to start connecting marketing activities to revenue?

First, ask: How does marketing influence online ordering?

Then: Identify what made those messages stand out and experiment with future efforts.

Put it into practice

Start looking for patterns in the data. Do you have a day of the week with an ordering slump? Try creating an offer or setting a campaign to entice guests to order during that off day and turn your least profitable day into your most profitable!

PopTip:Shameless plug… Popmenu provides this data AND makes it easy to read!

More industry resources from Popmenu

The Restaurant Growth PlaybookGrowth Playbook

The Restaurant Growth Playbook

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SEO for Restaurants: A Simple Guide to Higher RankingsSEO Guide

SEO for Restaurants: A Simple Guide to Higher Rankings

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Formula for Restaurant GrowthBenchmark Data

Formula for Restaurant Growth

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